Christian Bale

Christian Bale is the Sean Penn of his generation -- a feisty performer whose personality is short-tempered and long on talent. Originally thought to be an imminent star when he was cast by Steven Spielberg in Empire of the Sun, Bale did indeed become a global movie face and pop culture phenomenon. It just took him about 20 years longer than anticipated. Was it worth it? You bet. He’s Batman.

Now a fearless adult performer who is the perfect living definition of a “method actor,” Bale can inhabit iconic characters like Bruce Wayne (The Dark Knight and this summer's blockbuster hit The Dark Knight Rises) and John Connor (Terminator Salvation) just as easily as he can fill the shoes of demented yuppies (American Psycho), chronic insomniacs (The Machinist) and drug-addled boxers (The Fighter).

Currently experiencing a level of fame that’s on par with his regular critical acclaim, Bale has completed his career evolution from reluctant child star to Oscar-winning superstar.

Appeal

Christian Bale makes a point of avoiding films that contain a high degree of romance. After all, he’s a man’s man who’d much rather be driving high-tech cars, fighting bad guys or getting dirty in the mud. One of his exceptions to the romance rule, 1994’s Little Women opposite Winona Ryder, was instrumental in earning him adoration from women around the world, something his stepmother, Gloria Steinem, is surely proud of. As it stands, he’s just as famous now to the fairer sex for the ambitious movies that require him to bulk up (American Psycho, Batman Begins) as he is to the guys for the gritty films that have him shrinking down (The Machinist, Rescue Dawn). Not coincidentally, Bale’s recent rise to superstardom has brought him a few accolades for his good looks, including a 2007 selection in Empire as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History and one of 2007’s Sexiest Men Alive according to People.

Though his most recognizable alter ego, Bruce Wayne, goes through women like Batman goes through gadgets, Bale has been a one-woman man since marrying his wife Sibi Blazic in 2000. He’s been fortunate enough to costar with beauties like Kate Beckinsale (Lauren Canyon) and Scarlett Johansson (The Prestige), but his marital union is a rare celebrity marriage that has avoided prying paparazzi or serious incidents. Instead of searching for scandal, the eyes of Bale’s admiring female “Baleheads” have, for the most part, been focused squarely on his often-impressive physique and ever-interesting career.

Success

While his signature mainstream role of Batman has made him a household name ever since Batman Begins, Christian Bale is one of the few actors who didn’t instantly become a star by working with Steven Spielberg. By not following Drew Barrymore’s own post-Spielberg stroll down the path of instant fame, Bale dodged common child actor traumas like substance abuse and instead got to build his career on his own terms. As a result, Bale’s filmography has seen him make many visits to the mainstream circuit (Reign of Fire, The Dark Knight, Terminator Salvation) while also developing a healthy presence as an independent cinema regular (American Psycho, Rescue Dawn, The Machinist).

An embarrassing (and amusing) audio-recorded outburst on the set of Terminator Salvation notwithstanding, Bale has gained a reputation for being a consummate acting professional -- a quality that is evident in his commitment to his characters. Willing to put himself through lengthy tanning sessions (American Psycho), crash diets (The Machinist) or just really bad hairstyles (The Fighter) in order to become his characters, Bale’s disregard for his own professional vanity and his own disdain for public attention has made him both familiar and enigmatic in the crowded universe of modern celebrities.

Christian Bale Biography

Born into a show business family that already included a John Wayne stand-in, a seasoned comedian and circus player, Christian Bale found the spark to follow in the footsteps of his family members when his sister Louise discovered stage acting. Though the former student of Shiplake Church of England Primary School and Dolphin School also admired guitar, ballet and rugby as a child, he found himself loving acting, a situation that prompted his loyal father David to abandon his own air travel career in order to help his son make it to the big show.

At the age of 8, Bale turned his acting ambitions into reality with a role in a 1982 TV ad for Lenor, a fabric softener. From there, he lived out two popular childhood dreams -- experiencing rock stardom and enjoying Pac-Man cereal -- in the same commercial before jumping to the stage with Rowan Atkinson (aka Mr. Bean) in a 1984 production of The Nerd. Comfortable at this point in his acting surroundings, Bale moved to the small screen, starting with the fact-based 1986 NBC miniseries Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna and continuing with Heart of the Country, which was produced by the BBC.

Christian Bale Stars In Empire Of The Sun And Little Women

The opportunity to costar in Anastasia was significant for Christian Bale, because the star of the miniseries was actress Amy Irving, who was married at the time to Hollywood master filmmaker Steven Spielberg. This connection allowed Bale to audition for the lead role in the director’s new film, 1987’s Empire of the Sun. Competing against close to 4,000 actors, he won the role and went on to play a wealthy British lad who becomes a war prisoner in China during the Second World War. While critics heaped praise on his performance and the National Board of Review ushered in a new honor -- "Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor" -- especially for him, Bale was uncomfortable with the sudden onslaught of fame and interviews, along with the expectation that he was on his way toward certain stardom.

The resulting attention from Empire of the Sun scared Bale away from regular acting for several years, save for a small role for Kenneth Branagh in 1989’s Henry V and a TV turn with Hollywood legend Charlton Heston in 1990’s Treasure Island. A role in the 1992 box-office dud Newsies kept Bale’s career low-key until 1994, when he joined Winona Ryder in Little Women as the charming suitor Laurie and caused female hearts to flutter. Even with a higher profile, Bale still chose to stay close to the indie circuit for the rest of the decade by taking roles in diverse dramas like Metroland and Velvet Goldmine, the latter being a quirky and colorful rock odyssey with Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Christian Bale Stars In American Psycho And The Machinist

In 2000, Christian Bale gained a great deal of popularity for almost losing the role of the cunning and crazy Patrick Bateman to Leonardo DiCaprio in American Psycho. In the end, he held on to the part and physically transformed himself into, well, a perfectly sculpted American psychopath. Like the original novel by Bret Easton Ellis, the film was dark-minded and disturbing, but Bale received a solid amount of praise for his performance, including from Roger Ebert, who called it “heroic.”

The overall buzz created by American Psycho put Bale back on the map, and now feeling more comfortable in his own skin, he took supporting roles in Shaft (with Samuel L. Jackson) and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (with Nicolas Cage) before joining Matthew McConaughey for the dragon and action extravaganza Reign of Fire in 2002. Next, Bale settled on The Machinist, a 2004 film that required him to lose weight to play the disillusioned insomniac Trevor Reznik. He shocked audiences by losing more than 60 pounds through a diet of apples, salads and coffee, but his gripping performance on-screen made him a unique if noticeably skeletal property.

Christian Bale Stars In Batman Begins And The Dark Knight

With 2005 came Christian Bale’s biggest mainstream push in the form of Christopher Nolan’s ambitious superhero reboot, Batman Begins. Faced with the challenge of bringing Batman back to movie life after an absence of eight years, Bale met the task head-on by gaining a hefty 60 pounds before filming and giving the Caped Crusader a fresh and aggressive new face. Bale’s fame hit new career highs on the pop culture radar, and he earned the MTV Movie Award for Best Hero before going back to independent films and a new weight-loss diet to play real-life prisoner-of-war Dieter Dengler in Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn.

Following a reunion with Christopher Nolan for the magician drama The Prestige, an experiment in Westerns called 3:10 to Yuma and a turn as one of six Bob Dylans in I’m Not There, Bale returned to the Batsuit for the high-profile 2008 sequel The Dark Knight. Acting opposite the late Heath Ledger, who played The Joker, Bale propelled the film into the top five all-time movie blockbusters and cemented his status as the most bankable Batman ever.

Christian Bale Stars In Terminator Salvation And The Fighter

Having made the movie brand of Batman his own, Christian Bale took on another iconic character -- none other than futuristic war hero John Connor in the sci-fi sequel Terminator Salvation. During filming, Bale unleashed a string of profanity-laced insults against director of photography Shane Hurlbut, who had apparently disrupted his concentration while filming a vital scene. The audio recording of the incident went viral in early 2009, prompting an apology from Bale but also a string of YouTube remixes and parodies by the likes of Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien. Rather than harming his career, the incident became something of a pop culture highlight.

Terminator Salvation was an international box-office success in the summer of 2009, but the film received unfavorable reviews. Bale returned to the screen just a short time later for director Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, in which he played Melvin Purvis, the lawman in pursuit of gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). The film didn’t garner Bale any award talk, but that would change with his next move.

Christian Bale Stars In The Fighter

In Christian Bale's next film, 2010’s The Fighter, the actor was cast as real-life former boxer Dicky Eklund, an emaciated drug addict. Bale disappeared into his supporting role next to star Mark Wahlberg and earned some of the greatest reviews of his career, as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Christian Bale Stars In The Dark Knight Rises

Christian Bale returned to play Batman once more -- perhaps for the final time -- in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. The film made $75.8 million during its opening day, which is the third-highest single day tally of all-time behind (wait for it) Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($91.1 million) and The Avengers ($80.8 million).

On July 25, 2012, Bale took time to pay respects to the Aurora, Colo. victims involved in the tragic movie theater massacre last week. He visited victims and stopped by a memorial to victims near the movie theater that was showing The Dark Knight Rises when the gunfire erupted.